Coast Guard delays weapons training plan for Great Lakes

Public gets 60 days to comment on live-fire practice on Lake Michigan.

Public gets 60 days to comment on live-fire practice on Lake Michigan.

September 06, 2006

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Residents around the Great Lakes will have at least 60 more days to comment on a Coast Guard plan to create 34 zones to train crew on new machine guns and other weapons. On Aug. 1, the Coast Guard published in the Federal Register a plan to designate the 34 permanent zones "to support military and homeland security training and readiness," including 14 in Lake Michigan. People were given until Aug. 31 to comment on the proposal, but the Coast Guard agreed Friday to extend the comment period by more than 60 days. Public meetings also might be held. Coast Guard spokesman Robert K. Lanier said Sunday that the Coast Guard this year upgraded the weapons carried on its boats, adding machine guns to smaller arms on its cutters and other vessels as a homeland security step. To train in the use of those weapons, it began conducting free-fire exercises over open water. Lanier said 23 exercises were held this year in temporary "safety zones" from which all other boats were excluded. None experienced safety problems, Lanier said. When the Coast Guard published its plan on Aug. 1, the notice received little reaction until the last few days of the period. U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., issued a news release last week criticizing the Coast Guard. "I was surprised to learn of the Coast Guard's plans to create firearms training zones on Lake Michigan and am disappointed it did not do more to inform the public," said Hoekstra, whose district includes almost 200 miles Lake Michigan shoreline. Lanier said Sunday that the Coast Guard should have done more to inform the public of the plan.